The Beginning
by fbeauchamphartz
Summary: It's New Year's Eve, and in an unexpected move, instead of partying with their friends like they do every year, Sebastian kidnaps his fiance and escapes to the Atlantic Coast for a celebration of their own. ACITW Inspired. Kurt H. Sebastian S.


**A/N:** _Written per anon request and for the Kurtbastian Hiatus Project prompt 'New Years'. This one-shot follows in the timeline after A Perfect Tree._

The erratic pounding of the pre-storm surf, the spiraling icy wind, the tangy smell of sea salt on the air, and a blanket wrapped around their shoulders as they stand together, nestled in one another's embrace – this is how Kurt and Sebastian spend their New Year's Eve, away from the loud, overcrowded city, away from the tourists that flood the streets of Manhattan at six in the morning to watch a mirror-covered ball drop nearly eighteen hours later, away from family and friends, all of whom they love but who had bombarded them non-stop from October through Christmas.

Kurt has to admit, it feels nice to get away – to have a moment for themselves, finally shrug off the holidays, breathe the fresh end-of-December air, and enjoy the solitude. He's just a little perplexed as to _why_. Why the sudden and unannounced get away? It was Sebastian who had insisted on it, without a word of explanation or an apparent need to consult his fiancé. He simply woke up at dawn, packed their things (Kurt had to bite his lip and count to ten when he caught Sebastian stuffing his new Gucci jeans in a cramped overnight bag with the rest of their haphazardly gathered clothes and sundries), dropped them into his Mustang (forgoing his more recently acquired Porsche 911 turbo), and drove them out to the coast. It struck Kurt as bizarre since Sebastian is as much into the New Year's party scene as anyone, and they always had an open invitation to numerous celebrations up and down the Upper East Side – though Kurt has noticed that Sebastian has slowed down on the partying in recent years, which suits Kurt just fine. He quite enjoys having Sebastian all to himself at home, where he can indulge in body shots off his fiancé's incredibly toned abs in private.

Kurt smiles to himself at the thought of that first time doing body shots off of Sebastian, and at the thought of all of their firsts. He holds Sebastian close, buries his head in his fiancé's neck, and takes a deep breath of his cologne – the same heady, spicy scent Sebastian has been sporting since high school, and surprisingly, Kurt has never gotten tired of it. They stand on the balcony overlooking the Atlantic, frigid onshore winds whipping around them, sneaking beneath the blanket to nip at Kurt's ankles. The skies overhead darken with grey, low-hanging clouds threatening rain. Even with the possibility of getting drenched literally looming above their heads, they stay steadfastly wrapped in one another's arms, swaying slowly, moving in a steady box step across the gritty wooden deck. Kurt takes another breath in and sighs, surrendering to Sebastian's embrace and letting him carry the two of them along.

Kurt has no problem letting Sebastian lead now; he's still such an incredible dancer.

Kurt shivers in Sebastian's arms – a combination of the chill air batting at his exposed face and the sensual way Sebastian's body touches him everywhere else.

"Did you want to go back inside?" Sebastian asks, his voice hushed, speaking beside Kurt's ear.

"Not a bit," Kurt says, winding his arms tighter around Sebastian's waist and huddling further beneath the blanket that Sebastian keeps tucked around him. "Nothing in the world would make me want to go inside."

Kurt waits for something witty, some remark about Kurt's clothes getting ruined by the salty air or his perfectly style hair ravaged by the wind, but Sebastian stays silent, continuing to lead Kurt around the balcony, moving to the rhythm of the creaking swing pushed to and fro by the powerful current.

Kurt chuckles when the silence pulls past the point when a snarky retort would apply.

"After all this time, you still amaze me," Kurt says with a slight chatter from his teeth. "Just when I think I have you completely figured out, you always manage to come up with something…unexpected.

"Well, I aim to please," Sebastian says flatly in an offhanded tone. Kurt's brow furrows as he watches Sebastian gaze out to sea, his eyes pointed toward the sky which, despite the crowding bank of clouds along the shore, has remained relatively clear. Sebastian doesn't seem to notice Kurt staring; his mind is definitely elsewhere.

"But, you haven't told me yet _why_ you brought me out here."

"Was I supposed to?" Sebastian asks, coming back a bit to smile and wink at Kurt.

"Why didn't you want to spend New Year's Eve in the city?" Kurt asks, opting for a more direct approach to his questioning.

Sebastian sighs, his breath hot against Kurt's numb forehead, his eyes returning to the ocean to scan the sky, as if he's searching for something – something that should be there but isn't.

"Because, I needed this," Sebastian says, circling around the balcony and changing direction. "I needed to bring you back here. I needed us to have this particular night together, right here, in the place where you realized…"

"That I loved you?" Kurt finishes, his smile growing warm on his face despite the fact that he is slowly freezing to death.

"Yeah," Sebastian says, his own smile faint, bittersweet, a shadow of smiles that Kurt sees drifting in and out of his memories.

"Well, it was an amazing few weeks we spent here," Kurt says, reminiscing himself of the time they shared together that memorable summer after their senior year of high school - driving out to the Smythe family beach house, those mornings on the sand, soaking in the sun, playing in the surf, learning how to love each other, how to come together and be a couple. Kurt had watched Sebastian change that summer, or maybe it was Kurt who changed. There was so much about Sebastian that Kurt hadn't seen until they got out there – so much sensitivity, so much raw beauty hidden beneath his thorny, cynical veneer. Kurt smirks when he thinks of the things Sebastian planned, the lengths he went to woo Kurt…the ways Sebastian snuck around behind his back to unearth information about him. "You know, if I didn't know better," Kurt says with a suspicious glint in his eyes, "I would say you planned all of this from the beginning."

"Hmm, planned all of what?" Sebastian asks, distracted.

"This," Kurt says, squeezing Sebastian around the waist. "Us."

Sebastian smiles. It's slow burning, full of secrets. It confirms many of Kurt's long-held suspicions. But to Kurt's accusation, Sebastian says nothing. He has no answer to give Kurt that Kurt doesn't already know - that regardless of what Sebastian may or may not have done to get them together, none of it matters now. What does matter is that despite the obstacles and the drama, the near misses and the almost break ups, they found their way to one another, and that's where they stayed.

In each other's arms is where they found home.

Sebastian straightens, obviously hearing something over the cacophony of the water's relentless beating against the rocks and sand that escaped Kurt's notice. It's a cue of some sort, because Sebastian stops dancing and takes his eyes off the sky to look at Kurt.

"Today is the beginning," Sebastian says, raising a hand to Kurt's face, running a thumb down his cheekbone, along his jawline, tracing delicately over Kurt's lips. "The beginning of a new year, the beginning of a new us."

"Yeah," Kurt agrees, his mind leaving the beach house and taking a momentary detour to their upcoming wedding. Knots of all forms tighten in his stomach at the thought – but not painful knots. Not anxious knots. Thrilled knots. Knots of overwhelming excitement. "You're right."

"Ooo," Sebastian says cheekily. "Can you say that again so I can record it?"

Kurt's teeth snap at Sebastian's thumb still gliding lightly over his lower lip, and Sebastian laughs.

"Continue," Kurt commands with a stern but amused look.

"Anyway," Sebastian says, shaking his head, rubbing his nose against Kurt's, "I wanted to start it off right."

"Really?" Kurt asks with a charmed laugh. "And how is that?"

As if timed precisely to answer Kurt's question, a streak of light whizzes upward, splitting the night sky, a dull boom shaking the shore. Sebastian twirls Kurt around to face the ocean where a second explosion of white sparks brightens the gloom. Kurt gasps at the spectacular display unfolding before his eyes – a multitude of detonations, accompanied by faint music aimed off to the distance. But Kurt doesn't need the music because Sebastian is there, his voice in Kurt's ears the only music that Kurt needs.

Sebastian kisses a spot on the back of Kurt's neck before he answers, whispering softly against the goose bumps on his skin.

"With fireworks," Sebastian's says, planting a trail of kisses down Kurt's neck. "I wanted our new life together to start with fireworks."


End file.
